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It may have started as a reluctant holiday to Nepal with a friend, but ultimately it turned into a business opportunity for Home Loan Experts’ managing director and founder Otto Dargan.
Mr Dargan had been dragged along to Nepal with a friend who was fascinated with Mount Everest.
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There he met an intelligent university student who had a great understanding of what was happening globally in the fi nance industry. So instead of letting the opportunity pass him by, he seized it.
Ultimately it led to Mr Dargan offering him a job, and that is where Home Loan Experts’ Nepal business was born.
The thriving Kathmandu business now employs 50 staff, which is actually more than the Sydney office.
“People often ask why we chose Nepal. We didn’t choose Nepal – it just sort of happened! I’m sure glad it did happen,” Mr Dargan says.
While there is the argument that off shoring means the loss of Australian jobs, Mr Dargan disagrees.
“I started the business from home as a 23-year-old. We needed intelligent, hard-working staff but couldn’t afford to hire Australians due to higher wages.”
Marketing, accounts and some of the company’s IT functions have been outsourced to Nepal. At present, the business is having to decline a large number of small loans under $200,000 as they’re unprofitable, which isn’t fair on the customers.
“Now we’re looking at ways we can leverage our Nepal team to handle some of these applications. So there is the potential for brokers to operate from off shore as well,” Mr Dargan explains, with the only possible obstacles being legislation and lender requirements.
Setting up the offshore business has not been without its challenges though.
“In particular the training, culture differences, time differences and time it takes for competence are all a big challenge, not to mention that doing business in another country means learning an entirely new set of laws and customs,” says Mr Dargan.
Fortunately for Home Loan Experts, there has been some goodwill.
They’re fitting out a new office in Nepal and the builder has offered to throw in the labour for free.
Since offshoring, the brokers have had a much higher level of support with a ratio of 1:1, whereas previously it was 2:1.
The majority of the support team are highly educated, holding MBAs or BBAs.
Mr Dargan says the business has been able to hire proactively rather than reactively, and that has led to much faster growth.
Offshoring isn’t for everyone though, he advises.
“It’s not for one-man bands: it’s ideal for established businesses that are looking to grow. Start by meeting people that already have off shoring businesses in the location you have chosen and learn from them,” says Mr Dargan.
“You must go to the country to understand it and hire your initial staff , however it’s only once you’ve brought them to Australia for training that they’ll rival the skills of your Australian staff.”
